James Baquet

You must know Snoopy, Charlie Brown’s “pal” and one of the world’s most beloved comic strip characters. But have you ever seen the black-and-white beagle done up in goggles and a leather helmet, with his red scarf flying behind him as he sits atop his doghouse?

In that guise he is the “World War I flying ace” who takes on the Red Baron in aerial dogfights.

Of course, Snoopy is fiction, but the dogfights of World War I, and the technical skill of Manfred von Richthofen, the “Red Baron,” were very real.

Airplanes were in their infancy when the flying aces took to the skies. The Wright Brothers had perfected powered, heavier-than-air flights in 1903, just over a decade before the war broke out in 1914. The first known dogfight had taken place between two American mercenaries during the Mexican Revolutionin late 1913, but they first became a common feature in the First World War.

These primitive airplanes, little more than flying bicycles, were capable of astonishing maneuvers. To become proficient at flying and shooting was no mean feat, and Richthofen stood out as the “ace of aces,” credited with 80 victories in air combat.

The Red Baron was indeed a baron, and had painted his plane a bright red, hence the nickname. The bright colors of the crafts in his squadron led to the group being called “The Flying Circus.” (This may also have been due to the unit’s high mobility, using tents and trains — much like the circuses of the day — in moving to the areas where their skills were most needed.)

Originally a cavalryman, Richthofen showed little promise as a pilot, crashing on his first flight in March, 1916. But a month later he shot down his first enemy aircraft, and bought himself a silver trophy cup to commemorate his victory. He had bought 60 such cups before German rationing brought an end to the practice; he said he would rather have no cup at all than one made of base metal.

Respected by his enemies and a German national hero, the Red Baron’s career came to an end when he was shot through the heart in a fight with a Sopwith Camel — Snoopy’s imagined aircraft — on April 21, 1918.

Vocabulary:

Which word or phrase above means:

1. cheaper, not precious

2. dressed

3. expert at something

4. eye protection

5. soldier on horseback

6. skilled, competent

7. in the air

8. limiting the use of

9. title for a minor nobleman

10. new, not yet well developed